At Dine on our Dime, we've sampled barbecue from all over the Ozarks, so when reader Shirley Jessen suggested we add Hucklebuck in Ava to our long list of meaty conquests, we obliged. We couldn't turn down barbecue, after all.

Shirley's Take

Shirley moved to Ava from Springfield a few years ago, and she admits that the restaurant options are somewhat limited. Though she lives only about a mile away, she first had Hucklebuck accidentally. When someone forgot to bring food to an Eastern Star meeting she was attending, the group decided to get Hucklebuck's sandwiches catered in. "They were really delicious," she says. "I enjoyed it."

Since then, she and her husband enjoy Hucklebuck barbecue when they can. Her husband's recent health problems, though, have kept her away, so she welcomes the chance to enjoy her favorite with me.

In addition to the food, Shirley enjoys the clean interior and its hunting-themed décor. "The people are friendly here," she also says.

Though Shirley's tried sandwiches at Hucklebuck, her favorite dish is the two-rib dinner. It comes with two sides, and she decides on cottage cheese and a side salad with ranch ($5.99, 70 cents extra for the side salad). She loves Hucklebuck's corn on the cob, but doesn't indulge today. "The corn on the cob is messy, but it's good," she says.

Though the salad doesn't make her jump up and down, it doesn't matter, because Shirley enjoys her cottage cheese and ribs. Shirley admits she has a weird habit: she puts sugar on her cottage cheese. "Not many people do that," she admits. She also says the cottage cheese at Hucklebuck is better than any she buys at the grocery store.

Shirley enjoys the ribs, because she sees that they're smoked right outside. The tender flavor and smoked taste make them her favorite. As a matter of fact, she gets an order to go for her husband so that he can enjoy the ribs, too, despite the fact that he can't make it in to the restaurant.

Katie's Take

Driving an hour for barbecue? I've done crazier things, so I'm game. Though it's quite nondescript on the outside, Hucklebuck's interior more than makes up for that. A hunter's paradise, the interior, wood-paneled walls are covered with stuffed, mounted heads, fish and other animals. In addition, hunting pictures line the wall. Members of PETA: stay away. This is not the place for you.

But if you're like me and enjoy a good slab of ribs, then Hucklebuck's menu, which is full of sandwiches, smoked chicken, brisket, pulled pork and pork loin, will certainly please your palate.

When we sit down, a basket of peanuts greets us, and Shirley and I shell the nuts while chatting. The menu has no appetizers, so I simply assume that we have to make do with the peanuts.

Like Shirley, I order the two-rib dinner with a salad, but I decide to try her favorite corn on the cob. I'm a sucker for a good salad, but this salad disappointed. Mostly just a bowl of iceberg lettuce with tomato wedges, the salad taught me a valuable lesson: don't expect a great salad at a barbecue joint.

The corn on the cob came out hot, and I had ample butter to slather on the yellow goodness. Shirley asked me if the corn was still sweet. Yep, still sweet and still delicious.

When I bit into the ribs, I immediately tasted smoke, which, of course, is what I should taste when I bite into barbecue. Other than a smoky flavor, the ribs lacked other flavors, so I drowned them in sauce.

First, I tried the spicy sauce, and that had a bit of a kick, but I settled on the milder, sweeter sauce. I believe that the spice and heat make a dish worth my time, but with Hucklebuck's ribs, I got to savor the smoky, barbecue flavors better when paired with the sweeter sauce.

The Dish, the Restaurant

Because of his reputation for finely smoked meats among his friends, Hucklebuck owner Steve Bruce finally decided to take the plunge and open his own restaurant last April. A year later, and Steve's living every restaurant owner's dream. "The business has been unbelievable," he says. "We have people coming from all over the country just to eat here. It's crazy."

His grandparents owned taverns in southwest Missouri called Hucklebuck, so he wanted to honor them by giving his restaurant the quirky name as well. Unfortunately, his grandmother died last year before he had the chance to ask her where she got the name from.

To keep locals and travelers raving, Steve smokes meat on-site daily. He also says the difference in taste comes from the wood he chops himself. He uses cherry, white and hickory in the smoker. To maintain quality, Steve controls the food output. "I do all the plates, I do all the cooking and I'm the owner. That makes a big difference," he says.

Steve also serves a smoked pork loin, which is something hard to find at other restaurants, he says.

In addition to its smoked meats, Steve says he makes the baked beans, potato salad and coleslaw on-site. "It's just awesome," he says of the restaurant's food. "You can't believe how good it is."

Steve says he gets comments from folks from St. Louis and Kansas City who say they've never had ribs as good as Hucklebuck's before. "That means a lot to us when people come in and say that," he says.

Though Ava is a bit of a drive for Springfieldians, Steve says it's worth it. "People will drive a long ways for good, smoked meat," he says.